NewPage workers vote to accept Stern offer

Workers in Port Hawkesbury, N.S., voted overwhelmingly to accept a contract offer from a company that wants to buy the idle NewPage paper mill.

Marc Dube of Pacific West Commercial Corporation, the parent company of buyer Stern Group, said it was good news for the mill.

"Today’s successful vote outcome brings us one step closer to re-starting the Port Hawkesbury Mill," he said in a news release.

"This vote outcome sends a clear message that the employees want to work hard to run a successful, competitive mill and they know what it will take to do this.  We are equally committed to this partnership and to the success of the mill."

Dube said he would now turn his attention to working with Nova Scotia Power regarding energy supply and costs and with government regarding fibre supply and a forest management plan.  

"We understand people are anxious to get back to work. We are committed to doing what needs to get done in the coming weeks so that we can all get on with it," he said.

The Stern Group offer will reduce the workforce from about 600 to 229 unionized employees. A union representative said about 400 people were eligible to vote, and 300 did vote; 85 per cent accepted the deal.

The mill closed September 2011. The Nova Scotia government has spent $27 million to keep the plant ready for a new owner.